A first time visitor to Warsaw always heads to the Old Town at the start of their trip here. Not only is it the place where Warsaw actually was first formed as a city, it is also the prettiest part of the town. But of course, it comes with the caveat. What beauty was created here over the centuries, was completely destroyed by the Nazis. By 1945, the Old Town was just a pile of fallen bricks.
Poles rebuilt the Old Town, preserving the historical aspects of the architecture. They did it on a dime and without much support from the rest of the world. It is beautiful now because of their herculean postwar efforts to make it so. I don't know what is more heart wrenching -- the pulverizing and wrecking of Warsaw by the Nazis, or the effort that went into rebuilding it after the war to what it once was.
We did not start off our Warsaw visit with the Old Town. It is our fourth day here and only now do we begin our walk through the cobbled streets of the old city.
But first, breakfast.
1. THE WALK THROUGH OLD TOWN
My sister and my nephew join us for the walk, so we are a group of 13.
Keeping track of everyone and especially of the kids can be a challenge, but they are good at being shepherded in any direction, so in fact, we did not lose anyone in the course of the day!
(the bench that plays Chopin music...)
(St Anne's church)
(St. John's Cathedral: the chuch is so big, the girl is so small...)
We wanted to pause for lunch at a Bar Mleczny (a milk bar -- a holdover from Poland's postwar communist-era, and perhaps nostalgically so, because you surely wouldn't do it for the flavors and freshness of the cuisine. (Milk bars then and now sold common foods for common people. Soups, nalesniki, pierogi, cabbage rolls, you know the type.) I always found it to be both heavy and bland. But we wanted to try it as part of our effort to get to know Warsaw from all sides.
Unfortunately it was too crowded. Full of people looking for the same kind of experience I suppose. We opted instead to eat at the rather empty Ukrainian Place. -- Zyto. There is much overlap between Ukrainian and Polish food. Many of us had soups that people ate on both sides of the border. And potato pancakes. And cucumber salads with dill. I mean, can you get more Polish? Or Ukrainian?
Once a toy was fixed (more or less), and we finished with our meal (which was in fact very good), it was time to head back to the hotel -- the kids needed to rest before the big event of this evening, referred to by all as The Party.
2. THE PARTY
You've heard me say this before: I left a lot of good friends behind when I moved awayto live in the United Sates back in 1972. Men who were my university friends, even a few who were high school friends here in Poland. The men married here, I married there. And I married an American. My husband did not feel at home in Poland, so there were many years when I did not return to my country of birth. Not his fault really. I was too focused on other things as well.
But after about a dozen years' break, I started to go back on a regular basis. To see my father. To see my friends. Some of those contacts have waned over the years and miles, but others have only been made better by applications such as Zoom (Bee is a grand example of this). And always when I am in Warsaw, we all get together for an evening of... reminiscing. Of talking. Of playing games that get us into trouble. Of feeling the pleasure of each others' company.
Last year, I took a turn at inviting people to dinner. This year I'm doing it again, only this time, I'm bringing along my two families and their friend. There will be 31 people attending: 11 Americans, 20 Poles. 15 seniors, 9 non-senior adults, 7 children.
My goal? Not an easy one: keep everyone happy. To those who want to cross the great divide (language, culture, age), may there be opportunities for them to do so!
Did I succeed? Well sure, in that many made a huge effort to build those bridges. and cross them too. I love them for it. Still, some fences remained solidly in the way. I'm not surprised I suppose. I jump between people, countries, old friends, new friends without realizing that not everyone is on board with me. I assume they are and then I look around and I see empty spaces.
I've said this before -- it's difficult to live far away, in another world, and to nevertheless stay connected. I'm glad though that we had this chance to all be in each others company. Very glad.
with so much love...
